8th Grade Natural Selection Test

Name

Hour

• 5th
• 6th
• 7th

Which of these birds had an adaptation that best helped them survive?

• Long Beak
• Medium Beak
• Short Beak

What was this adaptation?

• weight
• number of offspring
• age at death
• beak type

What would be evidence from the data table on why the adaptation helped them survive?

• Average weight
• Medium beak length
• Average age at death
• Location

If a baby birds’ beak type is generally similar to its mother’s beak type, which beak type would be the most common among the offspring of the birds that had the highest average age at death? (check one)

• long
• medium
• short

Scenario: The grasshoppers died off, and now birds have to eat tiny ants as their main food source. Explanation: Birds with small, thin, and precise beaks would best survive this season. What would be a reason to support the explanation?

• Larger, broader beaks are not as effective for picking up tiny ants.
• Birds with smaller, precise beaks can more easily catch and eat small insects like ants.
• Birds with small, thin beaks have the lowest average # offspring.

Explain how the change in the insects available to eat could eventually result in a change in the most common beak type in this population of birds.

• Each generation, more birds with small, thin beaks survive and reproduce. Birds with larger, broader beaks become less common because they struggle to survive.
• Each generation, more birds with larger, broader beaks survive and reproduce. Birds with small, thin beaks become less common because they struggle to survive.
• There would be no change.

What variation exists in the arctic fox population?

• location
• amount of pups the have per year
• coat thickness
• precipitation

Which variation is more favorable?

• thicker coats
• thinner coats